FAIRVIEW, Ky. – “The Horse Solder,” a special Civil War cavalry exhibit featuring rarely seen personal items belonging to Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, will be displayed at the museum at Jefferson Davis State Historic site in Fairview beginning Thursday, May 22.

The special exhibit will tell the story of the “Horse Soldier” during the Civil War and highlight items used by Confederate cavalrymen, particularly those of Morgan and some of his fellow soldiers.

Among some of the items to be exhibited will be the cell door from the cell block of Morgan’s imprisonment in the Columbus, Ohio, Penitentiary in 1863; the cavalry saber he used following his escape from prison in November 1863; and a revolver presented to Morgan in 1854 by Lexington Mayor F. K. Hunt, Morgan’s uncle.

Probably the most personal item displayed is a neckerchief given to young W. B. Redmon on June 11, 1864, by Morgan after he ate breakfast cooked by the young man’s mother, on the morning of the Battle of Cynthiana.

Morgan, a successful businessman in Lexington before the war, was known as the “Thunderbolt of the Confederacy” for his daring raids as a cavalry leader. He was killed in action at Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1864.

The exhibit will be open through July 15, 2014. It will move to another Kentucky Civil War site, Columbus-Belmont State Park Aug. 1-Nov. 1, 2014.

Born at Fairview on June 3, 1808, Davis was president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he had been a U.S. senator and congressman and had served as secretary of war. Jefferson Davis State Historic Site is located just off Highway 68/80 in Fairview, Kentucky. For more information, call 270-889-6100.

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The Kentucky State Park System is composed of 49 state parks plus an interstate park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks, an agency of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, operates 17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state. For more information on Kentucky parks, visit our website at http://www.parks.ky.gov